A new Googong home is handed over empty and everything goes in at once. Blinds, shelving, storage, TV mounts, gates and clothes lines, plus the doors, gutters and fences that need attention once the first houses pass ten years. Free quote. Fixed price. No call-out fee.
Polytechnitis works Googong differently from anywhere else in the Queanbeyan district, because Googong is the only suburb here that did not exist a generation ago. Civil construction started in 2012 and the first residents moved in during February 2014. At the 2021 census 7,444 people lived here, the median age was 32, and 94.4% of homes were separate houses. 68% of those households were paying off a mortgage, the highest share in the district by a distance. These are new houses with young families in them.
That produces 1 specific kind of work. A builder hands over a house with no blinds, almost no storage, nothing mounted on a wall, and a block with the fencing only part finished. The list on moving day runs to 20 items and none of them individually justifies a tradesperson's call-out fee. Doing them in 1 visit is the whole point, and it is why our team would rather you sent the entire list than picked the one job you think is worth ringing about.
The second kind is newer. Houses completed in the first Googong stages are now more than 10 years old, past the statutory warranty windows, and old enough that the street trees planted around them fill a gutter properly. Doors have moved through a decade of Canberra winters, fences have settled into ground that was disturbed when the estate was built, and plenty of these roofs have never had a gutter cleared. That is ordinary maintenance arriving on schedule in a suburb young enough that a lot of owners have not had to think about it yet.
Polytechnitis covers new-home fit-out and the first round of real maintenance on the older stages. If your job is not listed, call and ask.
A new house in Googong arrives empty and everything has to go in at once. Wardrobes, beds, desks, bookcases, outdoor settings and BBQs assembled and levelled, TVs mounted, and tall furniture anchored to the wall properly. Modern homes here are lightweight framing behind plasterboard, so we locate studs and noggins before drilling rather than trusting a magnet. Packaging leaves with us.
Builders hand over a Googong house with almost no storage in it, and Polytechnitis fits most of what goes back in. Floating shelves, garage racking, linen and pantry shelving, hooks and rails that have to take real weight on plasterboard. The fixing matters more than the shelf here, so we use the right anchor for what is actually behind the wall and tell you the load it will safely hold.
Polytechnitis fits window furnishings more than anything else in Googong, because they are the job most new owners want done first and the one most often left because it means drilling into a brand-new wall. Blinds, curtain tracks, rails and screens fitted level, into fixings that will not pull out, with the brackets set where the reveal actually allows rather than where the instructions assume.
New estates hand over the house and leave the block to the owner. Side gates fitted and hung so they latch, fence panels finished off, clothes lines, letterboxes, gate latches and pet-proofing sorted. On a new block the ground is still settling, so we set posts with that in mind rather than fixing to something that will move.
The first Googong homes were occupied in February 2014, and the street trees planted around them are now big enough to fill a gutter. Plenty of these roofs have never been cleared. We clear and flush them, check the falls and brackets, and tell you where the water goes once it leaves the roof. Every gutter clean is quoted individually, so send photos and we will come back with a fixed price.
Once a new house has been through a couple of Canberra winters the frames move and doors that were fine on handover start binding, dragging or refusing to latch. Sliders pick up grit in the track and get heavy. We ease and re-hang doors, adjust and reset hinges, service or replace slider rollers, and fit the extra deadbolts and hardware the builder did not include.
Settlement cracks above doorways and along cornices are normal in a house that is a few years old, and so are the knocks a family puts into a hallway. We fill, sand back and touch up to match, and repair the plasterboard damage that comes with removing a badly fitted fixture rather than leaving you with a patch you can see from the door.
The list that builds up in the first years of a new home. A screen door that will not close, a cupboard hinge out of alignment, a towel rail pulling out of the wall, a gate latch that misses, a mirror hung straight. Give our team the whole list when you call and we clear it in 1 visit.
Polytechnitis covers the whole Queanbeyan district from our Torrens base. Googong sits about 10 kilometres south of the Queanbeyan centre down the Old Cooma Road, with Karabar and Jerrabomberra between you and town. It is a straight run for us, and if your neighbours have jobs waiting we can usually take them on the same trip.
Googong sits 10 km south of Queanbeyan on the Old Cooma Road, with the township's parks, shops and schools built in alongside the housing and the Googong Foreshores and dam to the west. Our Torrens base is a straight run north across the border.
More about the area: Googong on Wikipedia · ABS 2021 Census QuickStats: Googong · NSW statutory warranties for building work
Real jobs across Canberra and the Queanbeyan district.
"I had my doors broken and kitchen drawers malfunctioning. From start to finish, the service was professional, reliable, and genuinely friendly. He was on time, understood exactly what needed to be done, and completed the job with great attention to detail."
"The handyman (Steve) knows very well his job and can do it in no time, he saved me a lot of money, his my number one call if i need anything to fix"
"I can't say enough about the outstanding service from Steve, he did a great job with the wall patching all the holes and painting it."
"I was impressed with the quick and efficient service provided by Polytechnitis, Steve the handyman was very good and completed the job to a high standard and I would highly recommend his services, good price as well and on time."
"Steve flattened my yard and placed pavers on top he also gave me a recommendation for good and affordable electricians"
"My roof was leaking Steve fixed the leak in no time and he didnt charge much"
Yes, and it is most of what we do here. Googong has been built from open ground since civil construction started in 2012, with the first residents moving in during February 2014, so the suburb is a mix of houses a few years old and houses still being handed over. A new home needs everything installed at once: blinds, shelving, storage, TV mounts, gates, clothes lines and the rest. We do that as one visit rather than a series of call-outs.
It means the maintenance is now yours rather than the builder’s. Under the NSW Home Building Act the statutory warranty on residential building work is 6 years for major defects and 2 years for all other defects, running from completion of the work. Homes finished in the first Googong stages passed both windows years ago. That is not a problem, it just means gutters, doors, fences and the rest are now an owner’s job. Check your own completion date, because the clock runs per house, not per suburb.
Yes. Polytechnitis drills into new plasterboard every week, and it is worth asking, because modern homes are mostly plasterboard over lightweight framing rather than solid brick. We locate studs and noggins before drilling, choose the anchor to suit what is actually behind the wall, and stay clear of the zones where wiring and plumbing normally run. If something needs to hang off plasterboard alone, we tell you the weight it will safely take rather than guessing.
Googong is 10 km south of the Queanbeyan centre and 27 km from Canberra, and Polytechnitis charges no travel fee and no border surcharge. We are in the Queanbeyan district every week. If you can group a few jobs into one visit it works out better for both of us, but that is your call, not a condition.
It depends on the project and scope, so Polytechnitis quotes every Googong job individually from photos. We give a fixed price before anything is booked in and there is no call-out fee. For a new-home fit-out list we quote the whole list up front so you can see the total.
It depends on the value of the job, and Googong is NSW rather than the ACT, so the Canberra answer does not apply. The NSW Government requires a contractor licence for residential building work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials including GST. Repair, maintenance and fit-out work below that does not need one, which covers the large majority of what we do. We tell you where your job sits before we book it, and our Queanbeyan page sets out the NSW and ACT difference in full.
Yes. Public liability cover on every job, and we hold an ACT Working with Vulnerable People registration. If you want a certificate of currency before work starts, we can send it through.
No charge for the quote. No obligation. We'll call back the same day and book a time that suits you.
New-home fit-out or the first proper maintenance round. We're insured, we quote the whole list as one fixed price, and there's no call-out fee.
